Seth Curry's Saturday against Santa Clara: Duke wins 90-77

CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/DURHAM—The biggest mistake that the Santa Clara Broncos men’s basketball team made Friday while prepping for their Saturday afternoon match against No. 1-ranked Duke? Practicing in the Dean Dome. (Hey, head coach Kerry Keating, if you want to curse your team, schedule a practice in your next opponent’s arch-rival’s gymnasium. That’s not how you win games.)

Aside from that, the 11-2 Broncos had a couple of things going for them. Broncos senior guard and all-time leading scorer Kevin “Microwave” Foster put up 29 points and Santa Clara’s big men were physical enough with Mason Plumlee to keep him at the foul line and keep him from making most continuation shots. With four minutes left in the first half, Santa Clara had a 45-41 lead over Duke. Then Seth Curry took over, the Blue Devils went on a 21-3 run and the Broncos keeled over.

Before Curry transferred to Duke he played at Liberty University, where he scored a career-high 35 points in a 2009 game against Virginia Military Institute. Today, he hit his Duke career high with 31 points on 12-for-18 shooting, and made four out of seven three-pointers. Throughout the game, Curry shot the ball with a deluxe touch and attacked the basket wisely, showing absolutely no signs of the shin injury that’s been plaguing him all season.

Next, an undefeated (12-0) Duke travels to Charlotte to play against Davidson on Jan. 2nd, where Curry will have less pressure to make up for an overwhelmed Mason Plumlee, but more pressure to perform in front of his home crowd. Check back here next week when I’ll be discussing the risks of Duke’s Plumlee dependency. For now, click here to check out the Duke/Santa Clara box score.